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Murdoch Family - News Corp covered in-depth by The
Sydney Morning Herald
(The Sydney Morning
Herald)
The
Sydney Morning Herald - Media and Marketing
Lachlan
Murdoch: the son rises - October 22nd, 2022
(The Sydney Morning
Herald)
He’s
emerged as the successor to his famous father at the
head of the multinational media conglomerate, Fox
Corporation. Is the Fox News cable channel a good
indication of where he might take it?
By
Paddy Manning
It
had been a remarkably chilly start to the 2022 winter
and there was a stiff breeze on Sydney Harbour when
Lachlan Murdoch and his wife, Sarah, took a few friends
out for a spin in their new $30-million motor yacht,
Istros – a present for her 50th birthday. On
a Wednesday afternoon in early June, when most of
America was fast asleep, Lachlan could afford to take
time off from his day job running Fox Corporation,
parent of the world’s most controversial cable
television outfit, Fox News. Paparazzo Jayden Seyfarth
watched through his long lens as Lachlan and Sarah
helped their rugged-up guests aboard, settled
in for drinks and took in the sunset.
At
43-metres long, Istros is modest by today’s standards,
when mega-yachts and giga-yachts two or three
times the size can cost upwards of $500 million. Oozing
old-world charm, the ship was built in Holland
in 1954 and originally owned by Greek shipping tycoons
the Pappadakis family. In 2001, it won the grand prize
for the best-restored vessel at Monaco’s Classic
Yacht Show, but then fell into disrepair, sitting
idle in Malta until it was bought for a song, gutted
and completely refitted by Van Geest Design, the Dutch
builders of super yachts for moguls, oligarchs and
kleptocrats the world over.
Lachlan
had bought Istros in February 2022 and had it delivered
Down Under, where it would entertain family and friends,
a few lucky contacts from business and politics, as
well as faithful toilers from across the Murdoch media
empire, which had been founded in Australia by his
grandfather, Keith, and turned into the first global
news conglomerate by his swashbuckling father, Rupert.
Nowhere
did the Murdochs wield such concentrated power as
in Australia, where the family had controlled two-thirds
of newspaper circulation for nearly four decades and
had an outright monopoly over pay TV. Lachlan was
a third-generation media mogul, living it up
in his adoptive hometown; his older sister, Prue,
had good reason to call him the “king of Sydney”.
Istros took months to arrive and, on Lachlan and Sarah’s
first outing, the Daily Mail Australia reported the
couple looked as “happy as ever”.
The
next week, they took their teenage daughter Aerin
and her friends around the harbour to see the Vivid
festival, when Sydney’s world-famous Opera
House, Harbour Bridge and Circular Quay were bathed
in lightworks by visual artists from all over the
globe. Papped by Seyfarth again, Lachlan stood by
the gunnels of Istros and directly faced the cameraman,
throwing his arms out wide as though surprised or
annoyed at the attention. After spending his entire
adult life in the spotlight, the man who employed
as many journalists as anyone still bristled when
he was the subject of their inquiries.
Beautiful
as Istros might be, she was only a stop-gap runabout:
Lachlan was awaiting delivery of the boat of his dreams,
a 60-metre, $175-million, ultra-modern sloop
under construction at another Dutch shipyard, Royal
Huisman. The largest carbon fibre yacht ever
built in Holland, Murdoch’s new purchase was
known only by the code name “MM597” and
would accommodate 12 guests and 10 crew.
According
to the manufacturer’s website, distinguishing
features included “a huge transom opening which
… will give access to an expansive, lavish beach
club”. Lachlan and Sarah had paid a stunning
$37 million for a boatshed and jetty at Point Piper,
a few minutes’ drive from their $100-million
Bellevue Hill mansion, Le Manoir. In the meantime,
Istros would have to do.
*click
here for full article and multimedia
(The
Sydney Morning Herald)
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